290
EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.
two Ministers only are retained. It is necessary that there should be some members of the Government on the Board, because there are many things in which the concurrence of the Government will he required. If I am asked what those things are which render it necessary to have its constant interposition, my answer is, that under the proposed system there will he grants of money, and there will he the administration of those funds ; and it is well known that you cannot intrust the task of distributing money to any Board of Commissioners with the same degree of confidence which would be felt, were the distribution made with the concurrence of a Minister of the Crown, whom both the country and the Parliament will look to as responsible. By the arrangement which I contemplate, the Minister of the Crown will not he the person to appoint the school-inspectors and other officers of the Board. But these appointments will be made by irremovable life Commissioners, so as to prevent the abuse of this patronage for political purposes. Of course I here speak of Ministers in the abstract; and, when I make provision against the possibility of Ministerial jobbing, I do so on the principle that we are to legislate upon general views. The first object of the proposed Board’s labours will be to Distribute the Grants which from time to time will he made available, and dispose of those other funds which either exist at present, or may hereafter be placed at their disposal. In the next place, they will have the power, but with the concurrence of the respective local interests, of Founding Schools where they do not exist, or of improving them where already established. The great and leading principle of the Bill is a concurrence, in every instance, of the local authorities— that is to say, of the people among whom these Schools are to be planted, extended, or improved—with the